After Tang Han told Urara his name and exchanged TracenNet friend requests with her, Urara hurried off to deliver the Lucky Sachet to Rice Shower.
Not long after she left, Tang Han received a system notification.
...
Ding! Mission [Apologize to Rice Shower] completed
Evaluation: E
Reward: None
Suggestions:
Take off the Doctor's Outfit and let Rice Shower see your true face. That is the prerequisite for an apology.
Beat the hell out of that bitch, the God of Misfortune, yourself, and personally hand the Lucky Sachet to Rice Shower.
Reveal your identity as one of the big-brother types and invite Rice Shower to become your assigned horse girl.
...
"Phew. The mission's finally done."
The moment the mission cleared, the numbness in Tang Han's body vanished instantly, and he regained control of all four limbs.
He pushed himself up from the ground and moved his body around a bit. Everything felt perfectly fine, with no lingering aftereffects whatsoever, as if being rammed by a horse girl earlier had all been some sort of illusion.
"By the way, are you really the God of Fortune or something? Why do you hate the God of Misfortune that much?"
System: "..."
There it was again. Playing dead and refusing to answer.
Which only made it seem even more likely that that was exactly what it was.
Tang Han chose not to press the matter. He was afraid that if he irritated this bastard system again, it would slap a few more rewardless, punishment-loaded missions onto him.
Those two apology missions had already eaten up nearly an entire day. If a few more ridiculous tasks got piled on top, Tang Han could forget about ever completing the mission to recruit Urara.
As for why he had not just invited Urara to become his assigned horse girl right then and there, while she was standing right in front of him—
The timing had simply been wrong.
They had only just met. Asking her to deliver a gift to Rice Shower and then immediately trying to become her trainer would have felt... strange. Like some shady adult trying to lure away a child.
And besides, compared to now, Tang Han had an even better opportunity coming up.
He took out his phone and opened the "114th New Trainer Group Chat" on TracenNet. The pinned message was an announcement from Tazuna:
"A selection race will be held at the training grounds tomorrow morning. Trainers interested in taking on a horse girl may attend and observe."
A selection race was a race for horse girls who did not yet have trainers. They competed against fellow students within the school; the results did not count toward their official career records, but they were enough to show part of their talent. If a trainer found one of the girls promising, they could invite her to become their assigned horse girl.
And among the participants listed for the race—
Urara's name was there.
So Tang Han decided he would wait until tomorrow morning to approach her. As a new trainer selecting a horse girl during a selection race, it would seem much more natural.
Putting his phone away, Tang Han brushed the dust off himself and headed out beyond the school grounds.
...
At night, Tracen was at its most dangerous for trainers.
Especially male trainers.
Not only were there flesh-eating mare-girls who wanted to devour their trainers body and soul, there were also mad scientists who liked to abduct little guinea pigs under cover of darkness. If you got caught by one of them, then the rest of your life would be spent in either a basement or a laboratory.
To protect the lives of male trainers, the academy had arranged a school bus with the defensive capability of a tank. Every night from seven to nine, it waited at the school gate to take male trainers back to their secret dormitory.
But when Tang Han arrived at the gate, there was already a full-on brawl underway as people fought for the chance to get onto the bus first.
The ones fighting were all senior trainers.
They grabbed one another's wheelchair handles and flipped each other over with all their strength.
Whoever succeeded in overturning someone else was a winner—allowed to board the bus first and obtain temporary safety.
Whoever got flipped was a loser, left lying helplessly on the ground until their own horse girl came running over and dragged them away. Whether they lived or died after that was anybody's guess. Maybe you would see them again tomorrow, pale-faced and hollow-eyed. Maybe you would never see them again at all.
"Please! I'm begging you! Let me on first! She'll be here any second! I haven't made it back to the dorms for three days straight!"
One of the losers broke down in tears, pleading desperately with the victors already on board.
But all he got in response were cold, indifferent stares.
Before long, a wavy-haired horse girl arrived, scooped up the howling loser in a princess carry, and lifted him off the ground.
"Traineeer Let's go on a date tonight I've already booked the room~"
"Yameroooo!"
The victors watched from the bus windows as the loser was carried off by his horse girl, and suddenly sorrow welled up within them. Tears streamed down their faces, born of complete, painful understanding.
"So this is... natural selection..."
Tang Han: "..."
The bus, already full, roared to life at once and sped away with the first batch of senior trainers, fleeing this land of disaster and leaving behind a whole crowd of others who had failed to squeeze aboard. Those abandoned trainers dropped to their knees and prayed that, before the next bus arrived, they would not be taken.
But in reality, no amount of praying helped.
Any senior trainer who failed to board the first bus was inevitably carried off by their assigned horse girl when she arrived...
Within just a few minutes, Tang Han was the only trainer left at the school gate.
Because all the senior trainers who had remained behind had gone off on dates with their horse girls.
(Tragic.)
"Good thing that won't happen to me."
Just as Tang Han was thanking his stars that he had not provoked any horse girls—and that even if he had, none of them would be able to find someone with his lowered presence—a sweet voice suddenly spoke from behind him.
"Trainer Tang Han."
"!"
Cold sweat burst out across Tang Han's back. He turned stiffly.
"Please don't tell me it's some flesh-eating mare-girl..."
But the moment he saw who it was, the tension in his heart immediately eased.
"Oh. It's only Miss Tazuna."
The person standing there was none other than the academy receptionist, Hayakawa Tazuna—not the flesh-eating mare-girl of his imagination.
"Wait a second. How can you see me? The honey smell on me should've faded a lot by now, right?"
Although Tokai Teio had splashed him earlier with honey special, leaving that sweet scent behind, Tang Han had cleaned himself up a bit in an empty restroom. As long as he did not stay in one place too long, no one was supposed to notice him.
"The honey scent has faded a great deal," Tazuna explained with a smile. "If I didn't deliberately sniff for it, I probably wouldn't have noticed you, Trainer Tang Han."
"But in order to remember all the trainers, I took photos of everyone. As long as I compare the photo while looking around, it becomes much easier to find you."
She turned her phone screen toward him.
There, on the display, was a photo of Tang Han.
Judging by the background, it had been taken that very morning, right after he checked in.
"This is bad..."
Tang Han stared at the photo and frowned slightly.
So as long as someone had a picture of him, the Doctor's Outfit's reduced-presence effect would fail.
He would have to be more careful in the future not to let himself get photographed.
"Miss Tazuna, how often does the bus come?"
Tazuna thought about it for a moment.
"If there aren't any horse girls attacking the bus, then about once every twenty minutes. Otherwise... it's probably closer to an hour."
"Attacking the bus?"
Tang Han shuddered all over.
What the hell do you mean, horse girls attacking the bus?!
That sounds horrifying!
What kind of apocalypse is this?!
"A cute young lady simply doesn't want to be separated from the trainer she loves, so she tries to intercept the bus and bring him back," Tazuna explained with a cheerful smile.
"At that point, the driver has to stop and 'ask' the trainer belonging to the horse girl to get off. And in order to prevent the male trainers' dormitory from being discovered, the driver also has to take a number of detours, so that any horse girls following the bus won't find the secret dormitory and cause a dangerous incident."
Tang Han: "..."
This really is an apocalypse.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 126)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter130)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter89)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter157)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 133
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 125
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 84
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 143
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 115
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 99
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 53
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 75
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 66
Uma Musume: From Beginner 75
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 52
Uma Musume: I Want All 51
I Can Copy Unique Skills 53
A Guide to Aid in the Underwor 26
Summoning an Evil God, but the 27
Supernatural Multiverse 27
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